Three British banks are to start offering new loans to onshore wind farm developers. The loans will allow £1.4bn of projects to move to construction over the next three years.
RBS, Lloyds Banking Group and BNP Paribas Fortis are to lend up to £700M, a sum to be matched by the European Investment Bank (EIB). The loans will be available to onshore wind projects with a total project cost of between £20M and £100M.
Chancellor Alistair Darling welcomed the move. “We welcome the EIB’s commitment to provide this vital funding for renewable projects across the UK,” he said.
“The money will help continue the essential work of building the UK’s capacity in renewable energy.”
Energy secretary Ed Miliband
“The money that is being made available will help continue the essential work of building the UK’s capacity in renewable energy.” Energy secretary Ed Miliband said the development of the wind energy sector was accelerating.
“The UK now has 4GW of wind capacity. And the pace of installation is picking up. It took us 14 years to build the first gigawatt, and just one year to build the last. But we still need a sixfold increase in renewables by 2020 to hit our renewables target. That target is vital if we are to be on course to cutting emissions by 80% by 2050,” he said.
The new loans will form part of a wider package of public and private finance supporting investment in renewables announced in this year’s budget.
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